All MP games use the lobby and the routing server. We appreciate that some people were happy with the direct connection approach, but it did require players to tinker with network setups and so on. With the prevalence of NAT routers we wanted to try and bring more players into MP by making it hassle free to play the game online.

If you are having problems playing with the new lobby then please let us know and we will do all we can to fix them.

I’m an old player of the CC Series. I have the whole collection of this game. I´ve just bought the new one, PidF. I think that it´s a really good new game, but I disagree with the new multiplayer system, because now, it´s impossible to have a directly connection between players, via IP.

Slitherine oblies us to play in its lobby game, that furthermore, it doesn´t work well, with a very slow data transmission, with lag, the game stops during seconds (frozen) and cuts the transmission. Moreover, if the lobby game would disappear on day, it´ll be impossible to play in multiplayer.

I would be very thankful if you could solve this question in order to re-establish the older option of CC.

Our aim is to make the MP experience as simple as possible for all players and so we have constructed a setup which allows play without (generally) any setup or router hijinks. We appreciate that direct IP may be a preference for some players, but supporting multiple connection approaches isn't something that we have the bandwidth to really do. If you are seeing a lot of lag or slowness then that is something we can definitely try and remedy at our end.

The intention is/was good to provide a central spot and make it easier to connect and I'm sure many new players will appreciate it. But returning players who play CC multiplayer already knew how to setup their computer/network to play and now are forced to the new way which to be frank may not last (CC has multiple companies over the years and years where there was no company support).

Something that is often counter-intuitive to people outside software development is that maintaining and updating code is far more expensive in terms of time and testing that writing it in the first place. Hence having to maintain and update 2 differrent connection methods isn't something that we can realistically do. We'll be focusing on improving and dealing with any issues in the new system, so it's definitely helpful to get as much feedback as possible from people playing.

Takes something that works like direct connection, remove it, then justify why it was removed and then say it was not realistic to keep it due to maintanence. I am not a programmer, so I really dont understand whats required to just keep the old direct connection code in the software like Matrix Games did for all thier re-releases. What maintanence is there? You take something thats already made, do whatever you have to do to make it work in PiTF and test it. We are still playing CC2 via that exact way! Nobody has been maintaining that. Having the Slitherine lobby is good, and it should always be one of the options.

Matrix left BHQ as an option to play via the net. The fellows at www.gameranger.com were able to add support for all the Matrix re-releases to thier server. There was alot of negative feedback about BHQ so we moved around and now use GameRanger for every version of Close Combat including the demos if anyone pleases.

To me is just makes so much more sense to capitalize on something thats working great already, and make it better.

I understand how it seems as if something that was working should be simple to just leave in, but it just doesn't work like that. It doubles the MP testing task for example, as we have to test both methods fully. Our aim with the new system was to allow anyone to play, rather than just people happy playing with routers, IP addresses, and port forwarding.

If you have any specific issues with playing via the new system then please do let us know. I have just updated the server software which should improve latency and solve the issues some people were having being disconnected during the initial or final data send.

I completely agree with Mooxe and Tesjzd: the continuity of PitF is now greatly at risk with multiplayer being played exclusively via a 3rd party lobby. The lifespan of a software company, or the lifespan of its willingness to support an old (>10, >5, >1 years?) game varies greatly, but eventually it will always run out at some point in time. This is not a great encouragement for modders, or players (buyers), especially because this game is timeless, proven by that awesomely faithful community.

The new multiplayer system it´s a deception. I don´t understand why Slitherine remove a traditional conecction method used from a lot of years ago for de cc community players. And, also, the new lobby works very, very bad.

Hi guys - the reason is simple. The old method was a huge barrier to entry as it required you to open ports on your router. Only hardcore technical guys can ever actually make it work. Any normal gamer coming to this would be completely unable to make it work. We'd be limiting multiplayer to only people who are already playing. The approach is not used by any competent game developer anymore for this reason. To expand the audience and have the game live on and move forwards we need to use modern methods. I can understand why there is resistance in the existing community but we want to attract fresh blood and we hope to work with you to make sure the new experience is at least as good but we hope much better than anything you had before.

If there are issues we'll work to fix them but this lobby has been in use for years and been working well. Please help us to improve the system and build a great foundation for the future.

I understand yours reasons,ok, the new system is better for beguinners. But, I think they can be another more method for MP, not yet de only one. They could be perfectly compatible with de old system vía Ip. Whay not?.

And, the worse: your lobby works very, very bad, its impossible to play in MP

When you say its impossible you need to tell us what you mean. We want to help but it works fine for us and the betas so we need to understand what you mean by it's impossible to use. Please be specific as we want to help!

this is almost a laughable thread....... "The approach is not used by any competent game developer anymore for this reason.".....then why is it that every time we buy a new game from you guys thats supposed to be finished and working 100%, that its incredibly buggy and your lobby doesnt work? we end up play testing it for you at our expence and frustration and when some of us tell you our concerns or ideas we basically get the run around. this isnt the 1st time for us you know. i spent countless hours PM ing and posting with matrix steve with LSA and really got no where. LSA is still being played with a Beta patch, and there is still stuff in it thats buggy, but matrix and slitherine has moved on to PITF, and no more fixing LSA? talk about frustrating! but here i am back again for more of it.....thats the definition of insane.

if your a competent game developement game company then why do we go thru this EVERY CC game you put out??? the lobby is laggy and slow with poor connections for players....they cant play the MP game with it.....read your own forums!

We are obviously not happy that some people are having issues, but please don't extrapolate them to everyone. Just to be clear, we played people on the day of release without any issues at all. We don't and haven't seen lag to the extent that some people are describing and we are going to look into it, with those specific people if need be, to solve the issues as much as we can. But statements like "lobby doesn't work" aren't helpful when I can look at the server and see many games in progress.

ill use better wording next time Pip......but in my experience with your lobbys in your other games......there was never anyone there to play and i never new if they did work. i hope your not missing all my other points in the post. besides your driving new players away form CC on your own with the unfinished games you sell and let us play test. its not me saying your lobby doesnt work, but ill try to use better wording next time.